“Annabelle: Creation” Set For Strong Box-Office

“Annabelle: Creation,” the sequel that’s a prequel to the first spin-off of “The Conjuring” franchise, pulled in a strong $4 million on Thursday night and is on track to earn in the $25-30 million range for its opening weekend.

That preview night amount is double the $2.1 million its predecessor earned in Thursday night previews, and more than the $3.4 million last year’s “The Conjuring 2” scored. Those films went on to respectively gross $257 million and $320 million worldwide.

Reviews for it are much more robust than their predecessor with a 63/100 Metacritic score, putting it above the 37/100 for the first “Annabelle” and in the range of the two “The Conjuring” films which scored a 68 and a 65.

The film should easily beat out fellow newcomers “The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature” which is looking at $15 million for the weekend, and “The Glass Castle” which is hovering at an opening of around $5 million.